Official Game Thread: Hawks at Magic (Happy 2020s!)

[AHF]

Just now, Cwell said:

Huh? Orlando hasn't had the #1 pick since Dwight 2004

Yep.  They had 2, 4, 5, 6, 6 and 11 in consecutive years and did little with them.  Drafted badly and then tried to compete by trading away two of the best three picks they made for an over-the-hill vet.  Badly run team.

[kg01]

13 minutes ago, Cwell said:

Huh? Orlando hasn't had the #1 pick since Dwight 2004

But they've had it 3 times in their short history.

[macdaddy]

Not to take away from our victory but thank goodness the wonderful Orlando guards decided not to give Vuc the ball for 5 minutes in the fourth when Bruno was guarding him.  Nothing against Bruno but Vuc should have been scoring like crazy with a smaller rookie on him.  Instead the magic just kept jacking bad shots.  

[JayBirdHawk]

1 hour ago, macdaddy said:

Not to take away from our victory but thank goodness the wonderful Orlando guards decided not to give Vuc the ball for 5 minutes in the fourth when Bruno was guarding him.  Nothing against Bruno but Vuc should have been scoring like crazy with a smaller rookie on him.  Instead the magic just kept jacking bad shots.  

That and not giving any touches to Isaac in the 4th.

[Bonkers]

4 hours ago, AHF said:

I’m not at Bonkers level yet but my frustration with LP is growing.  Still believe in Huerter.  Hope we can find a trade partner for Bembry.  
 

The rotations have just been consistently bad even factoring in the limited options for most of the year.  Do not understand the minutes at PF/C for Vince.  Need to give Goodwin serious run with Trae out.  Bembry can’t run point.  Parker can’t play center.  These things should be glaringly obvious but LP seems unable to grasp them.

 

I did like the way he lit up and reached Huerter last night.  Wish he could reach more of the team but the overpaid vets seem to have completely tuned him out.

At least u understand where i'm coming from and realize my criticisms of LP don't come from no where

 

Salute

Edited December 31, 2019 by Bonkers

[JayBirdHawk]

Oookaay!

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Gray Mule]

Orlando board on REALGM is all about, Atlanta Hawks is, by far, the worst team in the NBA.  They have only one real NBA player and he was out with injury.  Despite them having only G League players, they beat us!  They want to do away with every player on heir roster, except one!

As bad as all their posters thought the Hawks team is, they like our makeup more than their own.

See, as bad as we all know that the Hawks have been recently, we like our team much more than the fans on the Orlando board does about their team.

Seems, by what we read, Trae will be back next year when the Hawks play again.  Goodwin will be around to back him up.  Here's hoping that 2020 will be much better to all of us Hawk fans !

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL !!

[bleachkit]

I can't help but wonder if Trae being out was a big reason behind the improved defense yesterday. Addition by subtraction.

[turnermx]

2 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

I can't help but wonder if Trae being out was a big reason behind the improved defense yesterday. Addition by subtraction.

I can't help but think the fact Orlando took ill-advised 3 point shots instead of exploiting inside matchup advantages despite the fact they weren't hitting them had more to do with "improved defense" than any other factor

[JayBirdHawk]

5 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

I can't help but wonder if Trae being out was a big reason behind the improved defense yesterday. Addition by subtraction.

Well....Trae was out the game before and our defense was still really bad, not even factoring in that the Magic's offense isn't much to write home about.  Having said that, we did have ball pressure at the point of attack with Goodwin. 

Huerter nor Reddish couldn't/didn't fight through screens vs Augustine the way Goodwin did. 

[hawkman]

2 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

I can't help but wonder if Trae being out was a big reason behind the improved defense yesterday. Addition by subtraction.

Did you watch them against the Bucks(without Giannis) or the Bulls?

[Gray Mule]

Just now, turnermx said:

I can't help but think the fact Orlando took ill-advised 3 point shots instead of exploiting inside matchup advantages despite the fact they weren't hitting them had more to do with "improved defense" than any other factor

A small part of why they took those three points shots was because of the Hawks defense.  Not the only reason but it did have a tiny bit of why it happened.

[Spud2nique]

Travel day for me yesterday and I avoided scores in the airport at all cost.

 

We winnnnn!!!!  

Len played like Vuc. Hunter began driving hard to the hoop, still live that angled layup he does, then he started hitting some 3’s. 
 

We hung tough and actually played a full basketball game. Executed, followed through on D. Huerter’s 7-0 run in the game was pretty, he’s got it just needs to show out more.

Last but not least the star of the show, @Gray Mule’s own Brandon Goodwin! I’ll take my crow now. Gramps came at me hard last week for writing him off and rightfully so, my oh my. He wants that backup job badly and it showed! Great outing Goodwin, wow !

Appreciate your great game threads all season long @lethalweapon3. We are privileged.

Happy New Year Squawk fam!  
 

[Spud2nique]

We started the decade with an L to the Knicks. We ended it with a W against the Magic. Things are looking up!  

 

Note: We started 2000 with a loss as well. But we did win in our first game in 1990 against the Bucks. 
 

ps Jan. 3 in Boston... we need to start 2020 with a W against...well let’s face it, the devil  

 

Be safe everyone! Happy New Year  

[AHF]

On 12/31/2019 at 4:02 PM, JayBirdHawk said:

Oookaay!

 

 

Now I know the real reason for those blowouts.  Low energy bench vibe from Charlie Brown!

[TheNorthCydeRises]

On 12/31/2019 at 4:30 PM, turnermx said:

I can't help but think the fact Orlando took ill-advised 3 point shots instead of exploiting inside matchup advantages despite the fact they weren't hitting them had more to do with "improved defense" than any other factor

They didn't have an inside matchup when Bruno was in the game.  He guarded Vucevic quite nicely.  I think he only scored 2 or 4 points while Bruno was on him.  He devoured Len though.  It looks as if he hit 8 or 9 shots when Len was guarding him.

https://tinyurl.com/wnpy43m

( When you click on this link, click on the video to see all of Vucevic's FGAs )

Edited January 2, 2020 by TheNorthCydeRises

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

Quote

There is no doubt that roster improvement will be needed in order for the Hawks to become a fundamentally better defense. Still, that does not mean that their communication, team effort and execution can’t be consistently better than it has been thus far this season. 

The bolded is exactly what's needed.

[turnermx]

10 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

The bolded is exactly what's needed.

It is more important than roster improvement IMHO, more easily done. Can be done from within but I feel this retirement party for Vince every night and getting him minutes is coming at the expense of that.  I like Vince a lot but this team was hurt badly by getting him minutes out of position on a consistent basis.

[kg01]

Sucks that the Isaac kid went down with an apparently serious leg injury.  Seems like a pretty nice kid and was improving.  Hoping for a speedy recovery.